I be nicely, otay?

A few things happening around here:

Jack pulls himself up. At the end of December, Jack pulled himself up to a standing position. He had started with his knees, after which I very promptly urged Sean to lower the bed of the crib, for fear that Jack would launch himself over the edge with just the slightest bit of leverage. Sean obliged quite readily, recognizing the need. And, just a few days later, Jack was coming to a full standing positing. It is really quite cute to walk in and see him standing in his crib, waiting to be picked up.

Shannon and adverbs. Those who remember my teenage years may recall my propensity for adding "ly" for anyone who seemed to forget its proper placement in an adverb. Well, I'm happy to tell you that Shannon seems to be doing very well with his adverbs. He tells me he is going to do something "swowly" or "nicely." However, he is occasionally over-ly-ing. He often says, "I be nicely." :)

Shannon-- I otay!! Shannon loves to tear around our house. And, because he is wearing socks and running on wood floors, he often meets the floor quite abruptly. I will be somewhere else in the house, and Shannon will yell, "I otay, Mama!!!" I love it.

Jack and Aunt Erika's crocheted edges. My cute little thumb-sucker loves his blanket. At first, he just seemed to be attached to blankets in general. Then, the attachment became stronger to the blanket his aunt Erika made him. Then, his attachment centered specifically around the crocheted edging around the blanket. When he is very tired he will grow a little frantic if he cannot locate the edge. Erika also crocheted an edge for a small burp cloth of the same pattern fabric (different color). I have started introducing this as a surrogate so in the summer time, I can have it handy without overheating the poor boy. He seems equally pleased with the burp cloth as the blanket. He even enjoyed sucking his thumb with the blanket Erika made for Shannon. He wandered into Shannon's room, pulled himself up standing against Shannon's bed, found the edge of the blanket, and quietly stood there for a minute or so.

Shannon and "I love you!" For a long time, Shannon would simply say, "I you" for "I love you." Well, this past Sunday, he decided to add the word "love." Now he loves to say it all the time, much to his mother's delight. He especially loves to say it when he is in trouble, when he is trying to avoid doing something his mother has asked of him, or when he is supposed to be going to sleep. And, in those times, he will also say, "I need a hug" or "I need a tiss."

Household order. I have long struggled with keeping my house somewhat clean. I love a clean house, but other things get prioritized above the efforts needed to keep it that way. I have managed build a schedule that I have stuck to for two weeks now, which is pretty good considering my track record. It includes "family clean-up time" after supper three days a week. That just means that Shannon and I put toys away and vacuum. (Sean is allowed to participate if he is so inclined, but since he's on his feet all day, I decided to leave it up to him.) I've also added Pilates just before bed (odd time, I know, but I find that it is relaxing and stretches my back). I built the schedule in such a way that it would be flexible, but still have enough structure to actually have a chance of working. Of course, now that I've said that, things aren't looking so good for today's scheduled activities. I got sidetracked this morning by some awesome online clothing sales.